Hard rock casino ps2

A decidely average dip into the casino world

There is nothing like going to the casino. Who could not love the pungent smell of cigarette smoke, the broad array of geezer eye candy and the rampant bleeps and bloops of background noise? Plus, the joy of winning (and quickly losing) money can be an ultimate high. Hard Rock Casino does its best to bring the casino experience home to your handheld PSP system.

Hard Rock Casino offers over twenty different casino games for your gambling pleasure. There are all of the mainstay table games, including the ever-popular blackjack, roulette, craps, and pai gow. There are also five different kinds of poker offered, including the classic Texas Hold &#;Em and seven card stud. On top of that, there is sports betting, horse racing, and a plethora of slot machines for the inner-grandmother in you.

The heart of the game is its adventure mode. In this, you create a character (from a very limited set of design options) and embark on a spiritual journey of epic proportions. No, actually, you and a buddy go to Vegas to party it up and win a bunch of money. This haphazard story is told through a series of comic book dialogues and really has no relevance to the gameplay at all. You are given a series of goals to tackle and when you beat these goals, the &#;story&#; advances. Some of these goals are fun and useful, such as having to make ten straight correct moves in blackjack. However, most of the goals are ridiculous and rely on pure luck. Examples of these are keeping the dice in craps for ten consecutive plays, and winning $ in 20 minutes playing pai gow. Your reward for progressing through adventure mode is unlocking new casinos that have different house rules. It&#;s nothing terribly exciting.

If you do not want to bother with adventure mode, you can play any of the casino games individually or enter a poker tournament on your own. If you don&#;t know how to play a certain game, there are very helpful tutorials that explain the rules of each one. The game is also wi-fi compatible, but the chances of finding anyone to play against online are slim.

Aesthetically, Hard Rock Casino is both a bore and a chore. The graphics look they belong on a Playstation One system. Hideous, clunky character designs and dull environments are the norm here. As poorly designed as the graphics are, they are brilliant compared to the dreadful sounds of the game. Horrible generic rock music plays on top of repetitive character banter that gets old in a hurry. The game is best played with the sound off, or at least without the music and senseless character quips.

In short, Hard Rock Casino is a run-of-the-mill casino game that was released to tap into the card game frenzy of the past few years. The games offered in here are fun enough, but the adventure mode is uninspired and the aesthetics are downright pitiful. If you are jonesing for your gambling fix without actually blowing real money, you could do worse than Hard Rock Casino. Otherwise, it is a decent-at-best effort and not really worth your time.

1. Rating: 

   5

2. Product Release: Hard Rock Casino (US, 04/24/)